Joe Hundley gets 8 months in prison for slapping baby on plane

A man who pleaded guilty to slapping a crying toddler on a flight is due in federal court for sentencing.

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Joe Rickey Hundley, the man charged last Feb. by the FBI with simple assault for slapping a crying 19-month-old baby on a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta, and using the N word while doing so, was sentenced by a federal judge on Jan. 6 to eight months behind bars in a federal slammer.

Kootenai County Sheriff

The baby’s mom, Jessica Bennett, 33, of Minneapolis, was sitting next to Hundley during the slapping incident which also resulted in Hundley scratching the baby under the eye, according to The Huffington Post.

In court documents filed by the FBI last Feb.:

Hundley “told her to shut that (‘N word’) baby up,”

The toddler’s mom received assistance and support from several other passengers on the plane following Hundley’s slapping.

Although prosecutors in the case against Hundley had only recommended a six month sentence for the baby slapper, “U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman said he imposed a higher sentence in part because of Hundley's criminal history, which includes a prior assault.”

Prior to sentencing, Hundley said that he accepted full responsibility for his actions and apologized in court to the baby’s mother, who was present during today’s proceedings. Hundley pleaded guilty to simple assault in court last Oct.

Hundley's attorney, Marcia Shein, argued that her client was distraught when he slapped the toddler on that Delta flight.

Hundley's only son was in a coma in Atlanta after an insulin overdose that was the result of a suspected suicide attempt, Shein has said. Hundley had spent the prior day talking to his ex-wife and doctors after his son was declared brain dead, Shein said, and he booked a last-minute flight to Atlanta so he and his ex-wife could take their son off life support.

For more on Joe Hundley slapping the toddler on that airplane, see the video accompanying this article.

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